Effect of continuous and pulsed current techniques on wire-arc additive manufacturing of a nickel-based superalloy

Abstract

In this research, the Hastelloy C-276 thick wall component was successfully fabricated using wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) with both continuous current (CC) and pulsed current (PC) techniques. A defect-free components produced from appropriate process parameters. The CC-WAAM exhibits equiaxed structureintop and columnar inmiddle and bottom layers. PC-WAAM has fine-equiaxed and cellular structure. The controlled heat input from arc pulsing mode minimized elemental segregation between inter-dendritic and dendritic core regions. CC-WAAM wall have a maximum average grain size of 223.7 μm, while PC-WAAM wall have 189.2 μm. PC-WAAM has higher strength, hardness, and ductility than CC-WAAM. This paper presented a better gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) based WAAM technique for industrial component manufacturing based on Hastelloy C-276 microstructure and mechanical integrity tests.